May-Treanor, Walsh Jennings earn royal victory

Misty May-Treanor of the United States spikes the ball past Sanne Keizer of Netherlands during the Women's Beach Volleyball Round of 16 match between United States and Netherlands.RYAN PIERSE, GETTY IMAGES

LONDON -- Right in the middle of the royals and the statues and all the reliable postcards of London, they built a beach volleyball court.

And the people came and pronounced it good.

“It’s amazing, it feels like we’re the show,” said Kerri Walsh-Jennings on Saturday night.

“It feels like they’ve taken us back into history,” said Misty May-Treanor.

Maybe it isn’t Churchill and Lloyd George and Victoria, but Misty-Kerri have some history afoot, too.

They are looking to win a gold medal for the third consecutive Olympics, and they won their way into the quarterfinals over the Dutch team of Marleen van Ieersel and Sanne Keizer, 21-13, 21-12.

Then the U.S. men’s team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal wiped out a 18-16 deficit in the second set and defeated Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Sergei Prokopiev, 21-14 and 22-20 to reach its quarterfinal.

The venue is the Horse Guards Parade, where the Queen’s birthday is celebrated every year. The huge Parade building looms over the 13,000-seat stadium, with Buckingham Palace off the right and Parliament and Big Ben nearby.

In 2009 the world polo championships were held there, so it isn’t unprecedented.

“But imagine that – they’re asking this family if we can please put a big sand court right in the middle of everything,” May-Treanor said.

Misty-Kerri is playing night matches almost exclusively. It’s a little too chilly for the players to wear their usual lack of uniforms, and when it rains the sand can get a little dicey.

“But with these new goggles I have, it’s like watching everything in HD,” Walsh-Jennings said.

Her husband, Dodger catcher Matt Treanor, was warming up for Saturday’s Dodgers-Cubs game as she spoke.

Gibb-Rosenthal is carrying the U.S. men’s hopes after defending gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers were upset.

“We love those guys and they’re still champions,” Gibb said. “But it shows that anything can happen at any time.”

They had to circumvent Semenov, who is listed at 6-foot-10. “He’s gotta be 7 feet,” Rosenthal said. “He’s two or three inches taller than Phil. He sure seemed like he was 7 feet tall when I was trying to go up against him.”

Rosenthal saved several balls during the U.S. rally, and the Americans capitalized on some serving mistakes.

This team has been to the final eight before. It lost in Beijing to Brazil’s Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos.

Still, the court itself is likely to be the star of this particular Olympic event, although it’s difficult to hear Big Ben chiming until the fans leave.

“And every day when I cone in, I see those two horses,” May-Treanor said. “I wanted to pet one of them, but I guess they’ve been known to bite.”

Related Links

Misty May-Treanor of the United States spikes the ball past Sanne Keizer of Netherlands during the Women's Beach Volleyball Round of 16 match between United States and Netherlands. RYAN PIERSE, GETTY IMAGES
Misty May-Treanor of the United States and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States celebrate during the Women's Beach Volleyball Round of 16 match between United States and Netherlands.The Americans beat Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer 21-13, 21-12. RYAN PIERSE, GETTY IMAGES
Misty May Treanor of the United States returns the ball during a beach volleyball match against the Netherlands. DAVE MARTIN, AP
Stanford Stickney of San Francisco reacts during a beach volleyball match against the United States and the Netherlands. DAVE MARTIN, AP
Misty May-Treanor of the United States dives for the ball. RYAN PIERSE, GETTY IMAGES
Kerry Walsh, left, and Misty May Treanor of the United States celebrate their two set win over the Netherlands.The Americans beat Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer 21-13, 21-12. DAVE MARTIN, AP

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